INDIA TO COMPETE IN MONEYGRAM THUNDER NATION CUP FINAL!

On January 7th, the MoneyGram Thunder Nation Cup will be on the line as India and Pakistan battle it out on Spotless Stadium in front of a Sydney Thunder home crowd to be crowned champions and have their nationality etched alongside South Africa and Nepal on the MoneyGram Thunder Nation Cup.

Now in its the third year, the Sydney Thunder hosted tournament will crown its third champion in a highly anticipated final, after both India and Pakistan dominated the MoneyGram Thunder Nation Cup Semi-Finals. It was the team representing Sydney’s Indian population that made an early statement by defeating two-time MoneyGram Thunder Nation Cup Finalists, Sri Lanka, by an astounding 77 runs, one of the largest victories of the entire tournament. With confidence running through the team, India easily dispatched of Afghanistan before defeating Bangladesh in a close encounter that secured their position in the MoneyGram Thunder Nation Cup Final.

Pakistan faced a much more difficult route to the MoneyGram Thunder Nation Cup Final and could have easily missed out on the opportunity after narrowly overcoming Bangladesh by 1 run in their opening match. It would appear to be the wake-up call the team from Pakistan needed after they caused the upset of the day by eliminating defending MoneyGram Thunder Nation Cup Champions, Nepal, by 66 runs. From this point, it was clear Pakistan were a classy outfit and after defeating Sri Lanka in their final match of the day, the dream MoneyGram Thunder Nation Cup Final against India was confirmed.

Sydney Thunder General Manager, Nick Cummins, was delighted to see the MoneyGram Thunder Nation Cup Finalists confirmed, and is looking forward to watching the two sides battle it out at Spotless Stadium.

‘Both the Indian and Pakistani communities have been strongly represented in the MoneyGram Thunder Nation Cup for the past three years, so it is great to see them in a position to be crowned champions’.

‘It is certainly going to make for an exciting final that will be a great curtain raiser for our home game against the Perth Scorchers.’

Michael Minassian, MoneyGram’s Senior Regional Director expressed his excitement about the MoneyGram Thunder Nation Cup Final, “The MoneyGram Thunder Nation Cup is a community program MoneyGram is proud to be supporting. To have teams from both the Indian and Pakistani communities in the final, two key focus demographics for our money transfer business, is a great result. It has been great to see the participation in the tournament grow this year and hopefully this trend continues for years to come’.

The Sydney Thunder Community Rookie, another fantastic community initiative that Sydney Thunder runs, culminates at The University of Sydney on Friday, 27th November. The final trials for the coveted position will see the standout players from the MoneyGram Thunder Nation Cup compete against one another to impress Australian selector Mark Waugh, Sydney Thunder General Manager Nick Cummins and other Cricket NSW coaching staff for a playing contact with Sydney Thunder as the Community Rookie for BBL05.

For further information on the MoneyGram Thunder Nation Cup and the Sydney Thunder Community Rookie, please visit http://www.sydneythunder.com.au/community/thunder-nation-cup